Following a week of speculation surrounding his job security, Texas’ second-year coach ended it, emphatically so, with a 24-17 upset of No. 10 Oklahoma.
Was 1-4 Texas playing poorly entering the Red River Rivalry? Sure. Nobody who watched TCU’s 50-7 demolition of the Longhorns or Notre Dame’s 38-3 season-opening smackdown could deny Strong’s group looked ugly.
Strong is only in his second season of cleaning up the malaise created by the end of Mack Brown’s tenure, but that didn’t stop some pundits, like Berry Tramel of the Oklahoman, from suggesting that Strong’s seat “couldn’t be hotter” and insinuating that he could be fired if Texas put up a poor effort against the Sooners.